REFLECTION AS A PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISM AND ITS ROLE IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' UNDERSTANDING OF THE NEW MEDIA DISCOURSE SPACE

The modern media have a powerful influence in shaping people's lives and they are also influential in the way they facilitate the spread of culture and lifestyle, especially regarding the younger generation. It is common knowledge that young people, e.g. university students, are much more sensitive to the alluring dominance of the digital media discourse. Social networking, blogging, vlogging, gaming, instant messaging, downloading music and other content, uploading and sharing their own creative work: these activities made possible by the new digital media are rich with multiple opportunities as well as risks for young people. It is worth mentioning that the present-day new media are acting the role of reflection, that is to say, the psychological ability of human beings to penetrate into their mind, feelings and moods. Moreover, the new media are the reflection of the common world. It is common knowledge that reflection as a psychological mechanism helps young people to understand who they are, what they are looking for and what they want to become in the future. Moreover, reflection creates real opportunities for awareness and evaluation of all aspects of young person's activity and personality from the standpoint of their effectiveness and determining the ways for further life and professional development of the young individual. Our studies reveal the role of the reflection, its structure and unique features of its components in relation to university students' awareness and perception of the media world they are existing today. A special survey was developed and conducted to focus on the reflection as a psychological mechanism and its functioning in the young person's mind while contacting the new media discourse and being under the round-the-clock influence of the digital media space. The data are statistically processed and analyzed to understand whether reflection in the university students' consciousness can be affected by the evolving nature of the present-day new media discourse and what quantitative and qualitative changes of this essential psychological mechanism can be expected due to the development of the relationship between the media world and the younger generation. Finally, recommendations are given on how to overcome the new media discourse addiction among university students and how to be able to use the media space in a positive academic, professional and social lives for the youth of the new millennium.